


Rumor Has It

by LegalizeSupercorp



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, SuperCorp
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-07
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-06-23 06:36:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15600459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LegalizeSupercorp/pseuds/LegalizeSupercorp
Summary: A rumor leads Kara and Lena to have a conversation Kara never thought they would have. / Song fic.





	Rumor Has It

**Author's Note:**

> This came about when a friend asked me to listen to this song "Rumor Has It" by Clay Walker for a fic he's working on. He and I got completely different stories from it, so I decided to write mine as well.

Kara Danvers sat at her desk in the CatCo newsroom, staring at a blank document on her laptop. Her normally neat blonde hair was now disheveled and soft ringlets fell from her pony-tail, made so by her constantly running her fingers through it in frustration. Her clear blue eyes stared from behind her glasses. They slipped down her nose again and she sighed heavily, pushing them up.

Snapper expected an article on his desk by the end of the day, but Kara was having a hard time concentrating. Maybe that had to do with the subject material. Rao, it had been a slow news week. Nothing seemed to be happening in National City for a change, which meant Kara was running out of both things to report on and things to do on the Supergirl front. She almost wished someone would rob a bank just to give her a little excitement. That way she could save the city and write about it. It was a win-win.

But no, it seemed the criminals were dormant for the moment. Which meant Kara didn’t need to be patrolling the city as much. And that meant that she had more time to dedicate to her career that actually paid: reporting. The only problem with that was no Supergirl stopping bad guys, no big stories for her to write. Therefore Snapper had her writing some stupid fluff piece about The National City Zoo getting their first panda. Not that she had anything wrong with that happening, but it wasn’t the hard-hitting story she was hoping for. Now, if someone stole the panda, and Supergirl had to get it back, that would be a story. 

“Are you seriously wishing someone would steal that poor panda just for a story and a little excitement?” Kara muttered to herself, shaking her head. 

“Danvers,” Snapper’s harsh voice barked behind her.

Kara jumped and turned around in her swivel chair, planting on a smile in front of her boss. She leaned back, hoping to shield her blank word document from his view.

“Snapper, hi, article’s going great, just great,” she said quickly. The last thing she needed was for him to know she hadn’t even started yet. That wouldn’t help at all because then he would just yell at her, making her more anxious about the whole thing. She was bulletproof and faced off against dangerous villains every day, yet her boss scared the shit out of her.

“Really?” He raised his bushy eyebrows at her. Snapper was one of those guys who had a lot of hair everywhere except his head. “Looks like you haven’t started yet.” He nodded to her computer.

Kara’s smile fell. Busted. “I was just collecting my thoughts—”

“Save it, Danvers. I really don’t give a shit about the panda thing. I’m just trying to fill up space at this point,” he said gruffly. “Look, I just talked to my buddy at the National City Enquirer, and he’s got a story I think you should hear about.”

“Snapper, you know that magazine is trash,” Kara said, rolling her eyes. “You’re the one that reminds us of that on nearly a daily basis.”

“And I stand by that, but this guy is the exception.” Snapper crossed his arms over his chest. “This is the guy who knew Lillian Luthor was behind Cadmus even before Supergirl did.”

That caught Kara’s attention. She faintly recalled something along the sorts, but at the time she just chalked it up to the magazine’s normal fake news and pushed it aside. But that had turned out to be true. Maybe this lead was the story Kara had been waiting for. It certainly piqued her interest.

“Lay it on me,” Kara said.

Snapper shifted his weight from one foot to the next, suddenly seeming uncomfortable. Kara had never seen him be anything but cocky and confident. It was a little unsettling.

“Now, normally I wouldn’t even care about a story like this, but since it involves you I figured I’d say something,” he said.

Kara’s brow furrowed. “Involves me?” Her heart hammered in her chest. This couldn’t be good. Her insides turned cold, fear gripping every muscle in her body.  
Someone had found out she was Supergirl. That had to be it. What else could this be about?

“What’s your relationship with Lena Luthor?”

Kara was taken aback. “Lena?” She stared at him. “What—what do you mean?”

Was it Lena? Had Lena somehow figured out that she was Supergirl and run straight to the press? The very thought felt like a kryptonite dagger right to the chest. Lena was supposed to be her best friend. That would be the ultimate betrayal. Then again, Lena probably felt that same level of betrayal if she had found out. Crap, why didn’t Kara just tell her before?

“I mean,” Snapper interrupted her thoughts, sighing, “are you friends?”

“Yes, best friends,” Kara said, nodding. That was why this was all so scary. The thought of her secret getting out was one thing, but losing Lena? That was something she didn’t think she could bear.

“Just best friends?” Snapper asked and raised his eyebrows. “Or are you dating?”

Kara froze at the question, her face unreadable. Where on Earth had that come from? Sure, they were close and had been spending more time together now that Mon-El had gone back to the future and Lena’s relationship with James fizzled out. And true, Kara had found herself stealing more glances when around the brunette, seemingly unable to go too long without staring at the beauty that sat beside her. And her feelings towards Lena had began to shift into the not-just-friends category, but she hadn’t told a soul, not even Alex. So how in the multi-verse did someone come up with this?

“I don’t care about your love life,” Snapper assured her when she continued to stare instead of answering him. “He just knew you worked for me and asked if I knew anything.”

“Of course we aren’t dating,” Kara said, letting out a forced laughed to show him how ridiculous the idea was. “We’re just really good friends.” She painted on a smile as her own words tore apart her heart. But she couldn’t show him that. 

“Okay, good,” Snapper said, nodding quickly. “I told him he was way off base with this one. I mean, you and Lena Luthor?” He snorted. “Yeah, right.”

Kara narrowed her eyes at him, unsure of what to make of his response. Was the thought of her and Lena together so ludicrous that it was laughable?

“I’ll tell him he got it wrong,” Snapper said, turning to walk away.

“Snapper, wait—” Kara stood, wringing her hands.

He looked at her expectantly. “Yes?”

“What, uh—What made him think that, exactly?” She nervously readjusted her glasses. “Did he say?”

“He’s been following Luthor for a few weeks because he heard she broke up with James Olsen over infidelity issues,” he said with a shrug. “You two have been spending a lot of time together, apparently.” He scratched his bald head, growing bored of the conversation. He really didn’t give two shits about Danvers’ personal life and was ready for this talk to end. “Said there was something about the way you looked at each other that made him think you two had a thing. I don’t know. Who cares? It’s not true.”

He walked away from the young woman, leaving her there with her thoughts. 

~~~

Kara and Lena had plans that night to watch movies, eat crappy Chinese takeout, and drink wine (though it had no effect on Kara). But after the rumor Snapper told Kara about she felt like she should cancel. After all, if there was someone snooping into their relationship and following Lena the last thing she wanted to do was fuel his fire. That would just make matters worse. What if he ran the article even after Snapper told him he was wrong? She knew reporters, and they were resilient. Sometimes when they got wind of a story they stayed on it, no matter how many people told them their hunch was wrong. They were like sharks after smelling blood in the water, hungry and dangerous. 

And that was something Kara couldn’t allow to happen. It would complicate things in ways she wasn’t sure she was ready to deal with. She’d just started accepting the fact that she had feelings for Lena. The last thing she needed was someone putting a spotlight on them. She would much rather suffer in silence, holding onto the hope that maybe her feelings would be returned. But if the story ran then there was no way the topic wouldn’t be brought up at least. And that risked hearing Lena scoff at the idea, just as Snapper had. Kara didn’t think she could handle the rejection. After all, there was a chance in never knowing, some hope in holding onto the idea of her perfect world with Lena in her head. Reality just wasn’t as easy.

Finally Kara made the call. Lena answered on the first ring, and Kara had to smile. When she was with the CEO Lena either waited until the last possible second to answer, let it go to voicemail, or simply reject the call altogether. She even did it to James when they were briefly dating. But not Kara. Lena always answered Kara immediately.

“I was just thinking about you,” Lena’s voice said from the other end. She sounded happy to hear from the blonde, but Kara could tell she was tense. She was always tense these days. L Corp was working on a new device that was far beyond Kara’s understanding, but so far her scientists hadn’t made much headway. Lena was putting so much time and energy into finding the solution but getting no results. 

“Oh really,” Kara said, smiling wider. She couldn’t help it. Knowing she was on the multi-billionaire’s mind made her giddy, butterflies springing to life in her stomach. She both enjoyed and dreaded her body’s response to Lena, even when they weren’t in the same room.

“Really,” Lena said. “About how much I can’t wait to come over tonight and watch mindless movies with you while we drink wine and bitch about our days.”

Kara’s smile fell. “That’s actually what I called to talk about.”

“Oh, no, don’t you dare, Kara Danvers,” came Lena’s curt reply.

“Don’t I dare what?” Kara asked, leaning against the counter in her kitchen.

“Don’t you dare cancel on me, is what,” Lena said. “I have been looking forward to this all day, and it has been the only thing getting me through it. So don’t you dare cancel on me now.”

Kara’s mind was reeling. How did Lena do it? It’s like she was able to read Kara’s mind sometimes, which frightened, confused, and endeared her all at the same time.

“It’s just been a rough day,” Kara began.

“It’s been a rough week for me,” Lena told her. “Which is why I need my Kara time. You’re the only one who can get my mind off of the clusterfuck that it my work.” 

The superhero sighed. Lena wasn’t making this easy. Then again, she never did. Lena was singlehandedly the most frustrating person Kara had ever met, more so than Mon-El or Alex had ever been. Maybe that’s why Kara felt such a pull towards the CEO. She liked to feel challenged, something Lena did almost daily.

“Okay,” Kara finally relented. “You’re right.”

Lena laughed. “I always am.” 

~~~

Sometime after seven there was a knock at Kara’s front door. She opened it to see Lena standing there with a bag of takeout in one hand and a gorgeous bouquet of red roses in the other.

“What are those for?” Kara asked, stepping back to let the brunette inside.

“I bought myself flowers because I thought I deserved them,” Lena said with a smirk, dropping the bag of food on the island in the center of the kitchen.

Kara nodded awkwardly, shaking off the disappointment and hoping Lena hadn’t noticed. For a second she’d thought the flowers were for her. How could she be so dense?

“I’m just kidding,” Lena said with a chuckle when she noticed the slight frown on her friend’s face, despite Kara’s best attempt to hide it. “They’re for you. As a thank you for not canceling on me after all, even if I had to talk you out of it.” She held out the roses to the reporter.

Kara’s face brightened. “They’re beautiful, thank you,” she said, taking the flowers when Lena offered them. “How did you know they’re my favorite?”

Lena rolled her eyes. “Please, Kara Danvers. You’re such a hopeless romantic. It wasn’t hard to figure out.” She gave a knowing smile. “Plus, I remember you mentioning it once when Mon-El bought you lilies despite you having told him your favorites were roses at least a dozen times.”

Kara lifted the roses to her face and sniffed them, hoping the bouquet would help to hide the blush that was creeping its way to her cheeks. She couldn’t believe Lena had remembered something so trivial from a conversation they’d had nearly a year before. But that was Lena. Constantly surprising Kara in the best ways possible.

~~~

 

Kara tried her best to keep her attention on the movie, but it was hard. Her mind was still replaying her conversation with Snapper in her head. Someone saw her with Lena and caught all of the glances she stole, the lingering looks, and stupid smile that always seemed to be present when the Luthor was around. Someone saw past her façade and found out one of her deepest, darkest secrets. 

But the thing that got her is that the rumor wasn’t that Kara was in love with Lena. It was that they were dating. That indicated that if there were feelings they had to be returned. So was this mysterious stalker-like reporter catching something that she wasn’t? Was she missing some tell-tale sign that Lena was as interested in her as she was with the CEO?

Kara twirled a ring around on her finger absentmindedly as she cast yet another glance at Lena. The brunette’s attention seemed to be focused on the TV screen, and it appeared she was lost in the story of two characters from seemingly different worlds overcoming the odds and falling in love.

Kara had a hard time watching it, realizing it made her heart ache for a companion to share her life with. And the fact that her companion of choice sat next to her blissfully unaware of her feelings did nothing to dull the hollowness she felt in her chest.

Suddenly, Lena turned her face to the blonde.

“What?” she asked bluntly.

Kara shook her head, startled at having been caught. “What?” she asked back, unable to think of anything else to say.

“You keep staring at me when you think I’m not looking,” Lena said, reaching for her wine glass on the coffee table but not breaking eye contact with the other woman. “So, why?”

Kara stuttered out a few syllables, but found herself coming up with nothing. What could she say? That staring at Lena was so pleasing that she found herself doing it every chance she got? That her thoughts would constantly roam to the other woman at nearly every waking moment? No, she couldn’t say those things. So she said nothing.

“Kara, I know something’s wrong,” the brunette insisted. “I had to practically force you to spend time with me, and now you keep looking at me funny. So please, tell me what’s going on.” She sipped her wine and stared at the hero expectantly.

Kara still said nothing, tearing her eyes from Lena’s intent gaze, staring instead at her hands neatly folded in her lap. She hated herself for being so transparent. She had a habit of wearing her emotions on her sleeve, and Lena had knack for picking up on every last one of them.

“Does this have anything to do a reporter from the National City Enquirer calling my office today?” Lena finally asked when it was apparent Kara wasn’t going to answer anytime soon.

Kara’s eyes widened and her head snapped up, suddenly alert. “He called you, too?”

“He did,” Lena answered with a nod. “And he seemed to have some idea that we were an item.”

The blonde watched Lena carefully as she spoke, trying to gauge her response to the question by the way she said the words. But Lena had an excellent poker face. She showed no sign of the inquiry having any affect on her whatsoever, negative or otherwise.

Kara let out a sigh. “He called Snapper, too, and then Snapper asked me about it.”

“And what did you say?”

Kara blinked at Lena slowly, not quite understanding the question. What did she mean, what did she say? What could she say? She and Lena were friends, despite what she wished they were. Nothing more.

“I said we were just friends,” Kara said quietly.

“Oh,” Lena said, nodding. She down the rest of her wine and set the glass on the table.

“’Oh?’” Kara questioned. “That’s all you have to say?”

Lena shrugged and poured more wine into her glass. “What do you want me to say?”

Kara fumbled once again. She wasn’t sure what she expected Lena’s reaction to be, but it wasn’t this. She was being so nonchalant about it. As if it didn’t phase her in the slightest. Kara, on the other hand, felt very unsettled about it.

“I don’t know, maybe something about how ridiculous the whole thing is,” Kara said, her cheeks flushing. “That’s what Snapper thought.”

“And why would us dating be ridiculous?” Lena asked, sipping her fresh glass of wine and staring at Kara intently over the rim.

That was it. Her whole face was red now for sure. She could feel the heat in her ears. She let out a frustrated sigh and ran a hand down her face.

“Because,” Kara said.

“Because why?” Lena replaced her glass on the coffee table; she shifted so that she was facing Kara fully, sitting a little closer now. 

“Because… I don’t know,” Kara muttered.

But she did know. Because there was no way on this Earth or any other Earth that Lena Luthor could possibly be interested in Kara Danvers. Lena was beautiful, brilliant, confident, all the things Kara wasn’t. Lena was all Kara wished to be when she put on her cape and Supergirl costume every day. She did that without a secret identity, showing everyone her true colors without fear or concern of the opinions of others. She was the most amazing woman Kara had ever met, and Kara didn’t feel she deserved her.

“I don’t think it’s ridiculous,” Lena said softly. She reached out and placed a hand on Kara’s knee, causing the reporter to meet her gaze. “Do you?”

Kara momentarily forgot how to breathe, getting lost in those orbs of bright green that shined brighter than Kryptonite. Those were her two biggest weaknesses: the rocks from space that were the remnants of her home planet and Lena’s eyes.

“I—No, I don’t,” she said slowly.

Lena smiled, biting her lip. “So, they say there’s a little truth to every rumor,” she started, “Does that mean you’re in love with me?”

Kara’s heart fluttered, and her stomach did a somersault. That was not a question she was sure she was ready to answer. Yes, she loved Lena, as a friend, but with the addition of her sexual attraction to the other woman things began to get muddled. Where did friendship love end and romantic love begin? She didn’t know.

“The rumor was that we’re dating,” Kara said, turning it back on the other woman. “So that would mean you’re in love with me, too.”

Lena didn’t bat an eyelash. “What if I am?”

Kara didn’t know what to say. This was not a conversation she expected to have tonight, or ever. But here they were, having it. 

“Are you?” she asked in a small voice, scared half to death of both possible answers.

Lena raised her eyebrows. “Why don’t you tell me?”

Before Kara could ask Lena what she meant by that the brunette leaned forward and captured the other woman’s lips with her own in an unexpected kiss. Kara’s eyes were wide with a shock for all of a second before her eyelids fluttered closed, and she lost herself in the kiss. Lena’s lips were silky smooth in ways Kara had never imagined, though she imagined kissing Lena all the time. But fantasy had nothing on fiction, and by the time they pulled apart, both with lipstick smudged and breathing heavily, Kara felt like every cell in her body was vibrating.

“The answer to your question,” Lena began, “is yes. I am in love with you.” She searched the blonde’s face. “Is that okay?”

Kara’s mouth twitched into a smile, dazzling the other woman with the way it lit up her whole face.

“Yes,” Kara said, grabbing Lena’s hands and squeezing her fingers. “Is it okay that I think I love you, too?”

Lena beamed. “It’s so okay that I’m going to forgive you for not telling me you’re Supergirl after all this time.”

Kara dropped the Luthor’s hand, her face turning to one of shock. She sputtered, trying to form words. How had Lena figured it out? She thought she’d been so careful. 

“How did you know?”

“Seriously, Kara, it’s a pair of glasses,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Besides, in case you forgot, I’m a certified genius. I’ve known since the first moment you stepped foot in my office with Clark Kent.”

Kara stared at her, taken aback. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I figured you would tell me when you were ready,” Lena said with a shrug. “I got tired of waiting for you to be ready.”

“Lena, I am so sorry I lied to you all this time,” Kara said quickly. “I wanted to tell you, I just—”

Lena held out a hand, stopping her. “Did I say I was mad?”

“No…”

“Because I’m not,” she assured the blonde. “I get it, Kara. It’s a secret identity for a reason. When we first met for all you knew I was just as hateful of aliens as the rest of my family. You didn’t know me well enough at first to tell me. But what hurts is that after you did, you still didn’t.” She fixed her with a pointed look, showing that though she wasn’t mad she was still a little upset.

“I know,” Kara said, nodding. “But as time went on it just got harder and harder to tell you. I didn’t want to lose you because you were mad at me for lying.”

“You’re not going to lose me, Kara,” Lena said seriously. “Please know that. You are much too important to me for me to cast you aside over something trivial.”

“Because you love me?” Kara asked hopefully.

“Yes,” Lena said with a smile, taking Kara’s hand. “Because I love you.”

Kara beamed as she leaned forward and kissed Lena, her heart singing. 


End file.
